Page 93 of Daniil
He smiles.“You’ll find out.”He thrusts the knife in my direction, and though I easily wiggle out of the way, his friends shove me back toward him.
I’ve had enough of this.
If I have to kill them, I will.
I yank my elbow back and up, catching whomever is behind me square in the jaw.He yelps in surprise and pain as Marcus uses a similar move on the person closest to him.
Then all hell breaks loose.
It seems like they’re suddenly crawling out of the woodwork like swarms of ants, more and more joining the melee.Marcus and I are tough, well-trained, and prepared for almost anything.Almostanything.
Someone has me in a choke hold and I kick out my legs, catching one of his accomplices in the balls.He goes down howling in pain and I would have laughed if not for the scream that pierces the sounds of the scuffle.
“Daniil!”
I twist, trying to turn toward Courtney’s voice, but the fucker who has me in the choke hold isn’t letting go.
“Fuck!”I jerk wildly, finally breaking free, but it seems like more guys have surrounded us.
“Marcus!”Harlow’s voice is filled with terror.“No, stop!”
“God fucking dammit!”I throw myself toward a small opening just as something burns in my thigh.I go down to one knee, adrenaline keeping me from giving in to the pain.
All I can think about is Courtney.
Our son.
Fuck.
Chapter38
Courtney
Everything happens so fastit’s hard to react.
Two men approaching Harlow and me, menacing looks on their faces.
“Step back,” one of them instructs me, holding open one side of his leather jacket and revealing a gun.
“What do you want?”I ask in confusion.“I don’t have any money on me.”
“We want something worth far more than anything in your wallet.”He kneels in front of Micah.
"Get away from him!"I yank the stroller back just as someone grabs me from behind.I drop like a rock, catching him by surprise and he has no choice but to let me fall, which was my intention.Then I kick his legs out from under him, but that interaction was all the time needed to unbuckle Micah from the stroller.I throw myself in that direction, but the second man yanks me back by the ponytail.
I yelp in pain but continue surging forward, grabbing the man reaching for my son.Wrapping my arms around his calves prevents him from moving but a third man has just appeared, and he knocks Harlow out of the way.To her credit, she vaults herself in Micah’s direction, but this time the man pulls back his fist and when she goes down a second time, she doesn’t move.
“Daniil!”I scream his name, but I see the crowd surrounding him.Even in the chaos I’m aware that this was a planned attack—and that my child was the target.
“Courtney!”I hear Daniil yell but there’s a sharp pain in the back of my head and then nothing.
The next time I open my eyes there’s a paramedic shining a light in them, and I bat at it in annoyance.
“What happened?”I demand, trying to sit up.But everything starts to spin, and I collapse back down.
“Please—don’t try to get up.”A kind-sounding man with a heavy accent speaks gently.“You’ve a head injury.”
“My son…” I try to look around, but the pain is unbearable.
